Articles

Stanford, CA—Photosynthesis is probably the most well-known aspect of plant biochemistry. It enables plants, algae, and select bacteria to transform the energy from sunlight during the daytime into chemical energy in the form of sugars and starches (as well as oils and proteins), and it involves taking in carbon dioxide from the air and releasing oxygen derived from water molecules. Photosynthetic organisms undergo other types of biochemical...

Stanford, CA— Proteins are the machinery that accomplishes almost every task in every cell in every living organism. The instructions for how to build each protein are written into a cell’s DNA. But once the proteins are constructed, they must be shipped off to the proper place to perform their jobs. New work from a team of scientists led by Carnegie’s Munevver Aksoy and Arthur Grossman, describes a potentially new pathway for targeting newly...

Stanford, CA— Proteins are the machinery that accomplishes almost every task in every cell in every living organism. The instructions for how to build each protein are written into a cell’s DNA. But once the proteins are constructed, they must be shipped off to the proper place to perform their jobs. New work from a team of scientists led by Carnegie’s Munevver Aksoy and Arthur Grossman, describes a potentially new pathway for...

Stanford, CA—When it comes to cellular architecture, function follows form.
Plant cells contain a dynamic cytoskeleton which is responsible for directing cell growth, development, movement, and division. So over time, changes in the cytoskeleton form the shape and behavior of cells and, ultimately, the structure and function of the organism as a whole. New work led by Carnegie’s David Ehrhardt hones in on how one particular organizational...

This year's Department of Plant Biology retreat was held October 1st through 3rd at the beautiful Stanford Sierra Center at Fallen Leaf Lake, near Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra mountains. The retreat was attended by approximately 100 faculty, students, postdocs and support staff, representing nearly the entire Department. Keynote lectures were given by our new President Matt Scott on Hedgehog signaling in development, and by Stanford...

Today, three outstanding young scientists at Carnegie’s Department of Plant Biology will receive the prestigious Barbara McClintock (Jelmer Lindeboom, Ehrhardt lab and Luke Mackinder, Jonikas lab) and Cecil & Ida Green Senior Fellow (Lina Duan, Dinneny lab) for their outstanding work and as an incentive to continue to pursue courageous scientific endeavors in their future careers.

AudioStanford, CA—Sugars are an essential source of energy for microrganisms, animals, and humans. They are produced by plants, which convert energy from sunlight into chemical energy in the form of sugars through photosynthesis.
These sugars are taken up into cells, no matter whether these are bacteria, yeast, human cells, or plant cells, by proteins that create sugar-specific pores in the membrane that surrounds a cell. These transport...

AudioStanford, CA—Everyone’s heard of the birds and the bees. But that old expression leaves out the flowers that are being fertilized. The fertilization process for flowering plants is particularly complex and requires extensive communication between the male and female reproductive cells. New research from an international team from Stanford, Regensburg, Heidelberg, and Munich, and including Carnegie’s Wolf Frommer, David Ehrhardt, and Guido...